Darfur: New Attacks in Chad Documented

(New
York)—Militias based in Darfur are launching cross-border
raids on villages in Chad on an almost daily basis, killing
civilians, burning villages, and stealing cattle in a
pattern of attacks that show signs of ethnic bias, Human
Rights Watch said today.

Human Rights Watch researchers
documented numerous cross-border attacks on Chadian villages
along the border between Adré, Adé, and Modoyna in eastern
Chad since early December 2005. Most of the attacks were by
Sudanese and Chadian militiamen from Darfur, some with
apparent Sudanese government backing, including helicopter
gunship support.

Tens of thousands of people are
now displaced internally within Chad by the violence. Most
of the victims are from the Dajo and Masalit ethnic groups,
which live on both sides of the international border.
Chadian Arabs living in the same area appear to enjoy
immunity from attack, although some have left their homes
and taken refuge in Sudan, apparently for fear of reprisals.

Human Rights Watch also documented a new influx
into Chad of refugees from Darfur, people already displaced
by attacks in Darfur in 2003 who had been living in the
Mornei and Misterei camps in West Darfur. Many of these
people said that they fled to Chad to escape continuing
attacks on the camp residents by the Sudanese
government-sponsored Janjaweed militia.

“You may
have thought the terrible situation in Darfur couldn’t get
worse, but it has,” said Peter Takirambudde, executive
director of the Africa division at Human Rights Watch.
“Sudan’s policy of arming militias and letting them loose is
spilling over the border, and civilians have no protection
from their attacks, in Darfur or in Chad.”

Human
Rights Watch said that the situation had increased the need
for an expanded, robust international force not only in
Darfur but along the Chadian border, with a mandate to
protect civilians and disarm the armed groups.

Earlier this week, Human Rights Watch called on the U.N.
Security Council to authorize, on an urgent basis, a
transition of the African Union force in Darfur to a U.N.
mission. That mission should have a strong and clear mandate
to protect itself and civilians by force if necessary, and
to disarm and disband the Sudanese government-sponsored
militia forces that have confiscated land or threaten the
civilian population.

The border area south of Adré
became more vulnerable to militia attacks following a
December 18, 2005 attack on Adré by Chadian rebels opposed
to the government in N’Djamena. The Chadian rebels operate
from bases in Darfur and are allegedly supported by the
Sudanese government. The attack on Adré prompted the Chadian
government to redeploy its forces away from border villages
south of the town, leaving large areas at the mercy of
uniformed militiamen riding horses and camels who have
attacked and looted dozens of villages in the past six
weeks.

The increasing attacks on villages in Chad,
as well as on camps and aid workers in West Darfur in the
past few months, have made the region extremely dangerous
for international humanitarian groups. Therefore, only a few
are currently operating in the border area.

Many
of the people displaced in Chad lost most of their harvest
and cattle as a result of the attacks, and are living in
makeshift straw huts, dependent on handouts from host
villagers. Food shortages may become critical in the coming
weeks as food stocks are depleted.

“Security in
Eastern Chad and West Darfur are closely interconnected. If
no preventive action is taken it may only be a matter of
time before the refugee camps in Chad are also threatened,”
said Takirambudde. “The Security Council must act at once to
prevent more Chadian civilians from suffering the nightmare
next door.”

Human Rights Watch researchers in the
Chadian region of Borota, south of Adré, documented several
attacks by Janjaweed militia since mid-December. Forty of
the 85 villages comprising Borota have been attacked, and
all forty have been abandoned by villagers, who are now
homeless. In several attacks between December 16 and January
20, sixteen villagers were killed and six were wounded. The
latest attack, on January 20, occurred at night while Human
Rights Watch researchers were staying in the village. One
villager was injured by gunfire.

The central
village of Borota has a population of 6,850, but since the
attacks began, it has swollen to more than 10,000. The
village has only one working well and food stocks are
severely depleted.

Dozens of witnesses, who were
interviewed separately, described the attackers as ethnic
Arabs visibly different from the local population, wearing
Sudanese army khakis and speaking Sudanese Arabic. They wore
green, white, or yellow turbans, rode horses or sometimes
camels, and came from over the Sudan border to the east.

Approximately 10,000 people from twenty-six border
villages have sought refuge in Koloy, a village 45
kilometers southeast of Adé that normally has a population
of 1,904. A majority of the displaced arrived since
mid-December, when Janjaweed raids increased in frequency.
Victims interviewed by Human Rights Watch in Koloy said that
recent militia raids have reached the edge of the village.
Individuals who have returned to the border areas to recover
food from their fields report being attacked; many fear that
they will go hungry if they continue to be denied access to
their villages.

Human Rights Watch researchers
also documented an attack by Sudanese army forces on the
region of Goungor, about 45 kilometers south of Adré, in
early December. Between December 5 and 11, the region of
8,315 inhabitants was attacked on four separate occasions,
the first two times by Sudanese army and Janjaweed forces,
and the next two times by the Janjaweed alone.

At
first villagers believed that the Sudanese forces were
pursuing Darfur rebels who had retreated to Goungor after
skirmishes in Darfur. But the soldiers and Janjaweed
directly attacked civilians in twenty-two villages in the
Goungor area. At least two individuals were confirmed dead
from the attacks. Although Human Rights Watch was told that
a total of forty-five people were killed, that number could
not be verified.

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